As noted here on June 1, one-half of the illegal alien problem–the other half of which is illegal border-crossers–is the visa overstayer, the alien legally admitted temporarily under one variety of visa or another or, in the case of citizens from some countries considered “safe,” under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) who then decline to leave once their term is up.
The Department of Homeland Security keeps track of overstays and publishes a yearly report. The report for 2022 was quietly released this week, a month or two late, and–as with everything regarding the Biden administration and immigration–the news is not good.
Briefly, according to the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), here are the results:
- More than 850,000 foreign visitors overstayed their authorized term in FY2022, which CIS says is “probably a record high.” The total overstay rate for 2022 was 3.64 percent, more than double the rate of recent years.
- Approximately 98,000 visitors who had entered under VWP and were due to leave in 2022 overstayed. The country with highest number of VWP overstayers was Spain, with 28,356 overstays.
- Among visa overstayers, visitors from Venezuela were the primary offenders: about 173,000 Venezuelans overstayed during 2022. Coming in second were Mexican citizens, approximately 124,000 of whom overstayed.
- Just over 9,000 citizens of China overstayed on student or exchange visitor visas.
For more, see CIS.org. You can find the actual report here.